Coal

Natural Resource

The solid combustible ore. Gradually formed by plants through complex biochemical and physical, and chemical changes. It is energy source and raw material for smelting and chemical production.

Fuel type		Chemical
Energy		2.70 MJ
Fuel Chamber gen.		0%
Gathered from		Coal veins
Stack Size		100

1

2 s

1

Summary

Coal (previously called "Coal Ore") is one of the core basic natural resources. Found commonly throughout the galaxy, it can be harvested and processed on almost any rocky planet. Coal is a byproduct of centuries of bio-matter slowly compressing into a dense carbon mesh.

This makes it useful as a fuel source. It also can be further compressed and refined into other useful products.

It is mined with the Mining Machine.

It is smelted into Energetic Graphite.

Production Chain

Recipe	Building	Replicator?	Technology
1 2 s 1		⛏️	N/A

Production Upgrades

Each level of the Veins Utilization upgrade increases the mining rate by a flat 10%, and reduces the consumption rate by a compounding 6%.

See here for a table of veins required to fill Belts per level of Veins Utilization.

Used In

Recipe	Building	Replicator?	Technology
1 2 s 2		✔
1 0.5 s 1		✔
3 4 s 2 1 1		✖
1 3 s 3		✔

Player Tips & Tricks

When considering fuel sources for Thermal Power Stations, Energetic Graphite comes out ahead of the equivalent of 2 Coal, with a net gain of 446.4 kJ (558 kJ in the mech) per Energetic Graphite using any Sorter.
- 2 Coal have an Energy Value of 5400 kJ. Energetic Graphite has an Energy Value of 6750 kJ. 1350 kJ are gained.
- To smelt the coal requires 1 Arc Smelter running for 2 seconds, which costs 720 kJ. There is still a 630 kJ gain.
- To move the products to and from the smelter requires 2 Sorter Mk.I. Running 2 Sorter Mk.1 for 2 seconds requires 72 kJ. There is still a 558 kJ gain.
  - If Sorter Mk.III are used instead, the cost is the same. Sorter Mk.III uses 4 times as much power when running, but runs for only 1/4 time.
- The energy to mine the two coal and insert fuel into the thermal plant is the same. The thermal plant sorter actually runs only half as often, which will increase the energy gained.
- Due to the 80% energy efficiency of the Thermal Power Station, only 446.4 kJ are gained. In the mech, the full 558 kJ are gained.
When considering fuel sources for the Mecha, Energetic Graphite comes out slightly ahead of the equivalent of 2 Coal, with a net gain of 558 kJ per Energetic Graphite using any Sorter. Here Coal also loses out due to energy density, with a full Mecha fuel chamber holding 1.08 GJ of energy with Coal, while holding 2.7 GJ with Energetic Graphite, which will also release its energy at a 60% increased rate.
Coal burns for 1s in the Thermal Power Station, consuming 60 Coal per minute
- 2.7 MJ * 0.8 fuel efficiency / 2.16 MW = 1 s
Small quantities of Coal can occasionally be found from harvesting dead trees.